136

Appendix C: 

National Prevention Strategy 

Recommendations 

 Support comprehensive tobacco-free and other evidence-based tobacco control policies.

 Support full implementation of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

 Expand use of tobacco cessation services.

Use media to educate and encourage people to live tobacco-free.

National Prevention Strategy Recommendations 

National Prevention Strategy 

Federal Actions

National Prevention Council 

Department Actions

Support states, tribes, and communities 

to implement tobacco control 

interventions and policies.

 HHS will continue to enforce tobacco advertising and 

youth promotion restrictions as well as work with 

states to enforce age compliance checks.

 HHS will continue to support states, tribes, and communities 

through the National Tobacco Control Program, which works 

to prevent initiation, promote quitting, eliminate disparities 

among population groups, and eliminate exposure to 

secondhand smoke through population-based community 

interventions, countermarketing, and data collection.

 HUD is partnering with HHS to encourage the adoption and 

implementation of smoke free multi-unit housing policies among 

Public Housing Agencies by developing toolkits with information 

about smoke free living and identifying and disseminating 

best practices in the creation of smoke free housing.

Promote comprehensive tobacco-free 

worksite, campus, and conference/

meeting policies.

 DOD will implement a comprehensive tobacco control program with 

special emphasis on environmental and primary prevention activities 

to promote health and mission readiness and to lead by example.

 DOD is working to reduce tobacco use on DOD installations 

to promote health and mission readiness, help tobacco users 

to abstain/quit, and lead by example for all workplaces. 

Promote utilization of smoking cessation 

benefits by federal employees, Medicare 

and Medicaid beneficiaries, and active 

duty and military retirees.

 HHS will launch a tobacco Web site that provides users with 

a single source of information on how to access available 

cessation resources to increase the use of such resources.

CONTINUED

(National Prevention Council1)
137

Appendix C: National Prevention Strategy Recommendations

National Prevention Strategy 

Federal Actions

National Prevention Council 

Department Actions

Make cessation services more accessible 

and available by implementing applicable 

provisions of the Affordable Care Act, 

including in government health care 

delivery sites.

 HHS is working with partners to implement the expanded 

tobacco screening and cessation services now covered under 

the Affordable Care Act, including screening and cessation 

interventions for adults, expanded counseling for pregnant 

tobacco users, and full coverage for tobacco cessation services 

for pregnant women in states’ Medicaid programs. 

 HHS will continue to match 50% of the states’ cost of providing 

tobacco cessation telephone quitline services for Medicaid 

patients to support convenient delivery of such services 

and maximize successful tobacco cessation rates.

 VA will support the delivery of evidence-based, effective 

tobacco cessation counseling to tobacco users through 

training health care providers, screening patients for tobacco 

use, offering a variety of cessation services, and monitoring 

tobacco cessation processes to encourage and support smoking 

cessation efforts of veterans who use tobacco products.

Implement the warning mandated to 

appear on cigarette packages and in 

cigarette advertisements to include 

new textual warning statements and 

color graphics depicting the negative 

health consequences of tobacco use, 

as required by FSPTCA.*

 HHS announced the final rules requiring larger, more 

prominent cigarette health warning labels with 

accompanying color graphics in June 2011. 

*The FDA’s final rule on cigarette graphic warnings that was required under 

the FSPTCA was found unconstitutional on first amendment grounds. The 

US Court of Appeals remanded the matter to FDA, which will undertake 

research to support a new rulemaking consistent with the FSPTCA. 

Research tobacco use and 

the effectiveness of tobacco 

control interventions.

 DOD will consider how the availability of tobacco in military 

exchanges is contributing to tobacco consumption and how 

strategies outlined in Best Practices for Comprehensive 

Tobacco Control Programs can improve the health of Military 

Health System beneficiaries and the civilian workforce. 

Encourage clinicians and health care 

facilities to record smoking status 

for patients aged 13 years or older 

and to report on the clinical quality 

measure for smoking cessation 

counseling, in accordance with the 

Medicare and Medicaid Electronic 

Health Records Incentive Program.

 HHS will continue to include measures in its quality 

reporting programs that promote the assessment and 

treatment of smoking in adolescents and adults.

Abbreviations: 

DOD: Department of Defense 

FDA: Food and Drug Administration

FSPTCA: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

HHS: Department of Health and Human Services

HUD: Department of Housing and Urban Development

VA: Department of Veterans Affairs

Reference

1. National Prevention Council. National Prevention 

Council Action Plan: Implementing the National 

Prevention Strategy; < http://www.surgeongeneral.

gov/initiatives/prevention/2012-npc-actionplan.pdf >; accessed: December 2, 2013.